REVIEW: Jack in the Box Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal

If fast food is about convenience, then why is it that I have to add my own blueberries and crumble topping to Jack in the Box’s Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal?

When I peel back the lid of a McDonald’s Fruit and Maple Oatmeal, everything is swimming together — the apples, raisins, and oatmeal. The only thing I have to shove into the bowl is a spoon. But with Jack in the Box’s Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal it’s like here’s the church and here’s the steeple, open the doors, and see all the people still outside even though it’s 9:05 and service started at 9:00.

Yes, tearing open two packets and dumping their contents into a cup of hot oats is unbelievably simple, but if it’s so unbelievably simple, then why can’t the employees at Jack in the Box do it for me?

Having to combine the ingredients to make Jack in the Box’s Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal bothers me so much that as I tore open the packets and dumped their contents into the bowl with the hot oats I said horrible things about the size of Jack’s head. But when I started stirring everything and the wonderful aroma of blueberry muffins began swirling around my head, I quickly forgot about whatever was bothering me.

But then I took a long hard look at the oatmeal below me and got a little bothered again.

Next to a McDonald’s Fruit and Maple Oatmeal, everything about the Jack in the Box Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal looks small. The McDonald’s offering has nice chunks of fresh-ish apples, plump raisins, and decent-sized oats. But the Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal doesn’t have fresh-ish blueberries or even plump dried blueberries, instead there are small dried blueberries, small dried Zante currants, and tiny oats. Even the serving size looks smaller.

However, what the oatmeal lacks in size, it makes up for in flavor and after the first bite I forgot what was bothering me.

The oatmeal does taste like a blueberry muffin and I can only assume they were able to accomplish that by using fast food black magic. There’s easily enough dried blueberries and crumble topping to make sure your taste buds never come close to experiencing the blandness of unflavored oatmeal as you make your way through the container. My oatmeal had a thick consistency, but that’s only after I let it sit for about 10 minutes while taking pictures. The crumble topping doesn’t provide any crunch and the dried blueberries are only slightly chewy. But who cares because this oatmeal is kind of awesome.

Overall, it’s nice to see Jack in the Box’s Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal as a breakfast option among the sea of pork and egg breakfast sandwiches. There are times when I want to eat those greasy breakfast sandwiches, but when I don’t, I’m glad there’s something healthier I can choose.

Item: Jack in the Box Blueberry Muffin OatmealPurchased Price: $1.99Size: N/APurchased at: Jack in the BoxRating: 8 out of 10Pros: Smells and tastes like a blueberry muffin. Lots of dried blueberries and crumble topping. Available all day. Healthier than a Jack in the Box breakfast sandwich. Decent source of dietary fiber.Cons: Have to add dried blueberries and crumble topping myself. Serving size looks small. Dried blueberries were small. Oats were small.

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6 thoughts to “REVIEW: Jack in the Box Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal”

At McDonald’s, sometimes I ask for a packet of granola topping that’s served with the yogurt parfait with my oatmeal. It does add extra texture to the bite. Sometimes it’s free, sometimes they charge 50 cents.

As someone who hates eggs, I often find myself cursing fast food breakfast menus. Sure, you can ask for lots of things without eggs, but sometimes that means you’re taking away half of the flavor of whatever you ordered.

That said, the next time I find myself at The Box with my husband ordering steak and egg burritos, maybe I’ll get myself some oatmeal.

Now, where’s Jack with the fru-fru coffee menu? He’s falling behind the curve on that one.

Apparently you never tried the blueberry oatmeal from McDonald’s as it is the same issue, you have to put the blueberries in yourself. However, McDonald’s uses fresh blueberries and to be honest, I’d rather put those in myself. It’s a little bit of a different story with the fruit oatmeal since its cut pieces of fruit so they might as well toss it into the oatmeal already. Now the Jack In The Box oatmeal is a decent product in my opinion, but I’d still prefer fresh blueberries to dried blueberries. But if you look closely at the small plastic package of dried blueberries, you will see the ingredients list not only dried blueberries, but also zante currant raisins. I feel we’ve been bamboozled here with this one.

Well apparently I missed the part where you listed the raisins. LOL Anyhow, I would rather pour my own blueberries and crumble topping because I really don’t like having too much of the crumble topping and also if its already in the oatmeal when I buy it at the drive thru, then I drive 5 minutes to get to work, walk to my office which is another 5 minutes, and thats at least 10 minutes time that the crumbles would have sitting in my oatmeal, getting soft and mushy. That doesn’t seem appealing to me, I’ll gladly put the toppings in myself.